


Hoping for Hope

by StrikinglyStrange



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A little angst, F/M, Sarcasm, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:04:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15273207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrikinglyStrange/pseuds/StrikinglyStrange
Summary: A short, fluffy piece about Scott pining for Hope. This takes place post-Ant-Man and pre-Civil War and Ant-Man and the Wasp.Before Cap comes to recruit our favorite tiny hero, he makes a daring call to the beautiful daughter of his "business" associate.





	1. A Battle of Wits

Scott sits in his living room, practically bored to death. Maggie has Cassie for the week and Luis, and company are preoccupied with plotting another heist. Scott probably would have gone if he could have. I mean, he was just sitting there. There was literally nothing for him to do except read the same books, watch the same reruns and play the same 50 songs on Rock Band: he was too poor to buy any songs off of the store. And he didn’t listen much to music anyways since he wasn’t doing any driving.

He knows he’s not supposed to use his emergency phone just because he’s bored. He knows it’s a risk and it could violate several terms of his house arrest. He’s doing his best to keep himself from removing the trick panel and dialing Hank or Hope’s numbers. They’d probably hang up almost immediately but at least it would be a little bit of entertainment in his otherwise dull day.

So, he gives in and jerks the panel off, placing it down on his nightstand. He opens the phone and sits on the edge of his bed. He flips it open and shut several times before finally placing his finger delicately on the call button. “Heads it’s Hope, tails it’s Hank,” he says as he flips a penny he grabs from the top of the nightstand. The penny flies upwards, then comes rocketing down in the wooden floorboard. It rolls a little way, to the doorway, and then lands, heads up. 

The call rings for a while and right when Scott’s lost all Hope, Hope picks up. “Scott? Is everything alright?,” she asks suspiciously.

“Yeah, no, yeah, everything’s fine!” he reassures her.

“Did something happen with the suit? Did you lose control of the ants? Is Cassie alright?,” she lists out all of the valid reasons that she believes he would contact her for.

“No, of course not, and nothing bad will ever happen to Cassie!,” he responds, matter-of-factly.

“Then… why did you call me?”

“Well, to tell you the truth--”

“Oh, Scott, unwanted truths are what diaries are for.”

“Do you think I own a diary?” He says a little upset. “I don’t even think Cassie owns a diary!” He throws his arms up.  
“Sure she does, she just doesn’t tell you about it. Why would she? She’s a little girl.”

“But Cassie tells me everything!” he sounds distraught.

“Scott, why did you call?”

“Oh RIGHT! You distracted me!!”

Hope laughs, faintly.

“Because I’m lonely! And I was hoping that maybe, maybe you could fix it…” Scott says as he rubs the back of his head.

After a few moments of silence, Hope speaks. “So, let me get this straight,” Scott can hear the irritation and disbelief in her voice. “You called me on your emergency phone because you’re ‘lonely’ and you want me to do what? Show up at your house? Bring some Chinese and a good DVD?”

“That would be AMAZING! I haven’t gotten Luis to do my grocery shopping for the week yet!”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised that he’s not reliable.”

“Luis is SO reliable! I’ve just been too lazy to write it out. Or to call him, really. It’s all totally on my end. Luis is a great guy! He’s like an uncle to Cassie. And he was my best friend in jail. I don’t think I would've gotten through it without him--”

“Scott,” Hope raises her voice and he stops dead in his sentence. “You honestly believe I’m going to come over there?”

Scott’s voice sinks, “Well, why not?” He pouts. “I bet you’re not doing anything right now.”

“Actually, I was helping my dad with some research.”

“Well, can it wait?”

“Can it wait?” Hope scoffs.

“When’s the last time you got out of your dad’s lab? Or your apartment?”  
“I--”

“For something other than your job or your research.”

Another few moments of silence pass.

“Hope,” Scott pulls the phone away to see if the call is still going. “I know you haven’t hung up yet, so that means you’re at least considering the idea.”

More silence.

“C’moooon Hope! It’ll be fun! Plus, we totally had a moment at your dad’s!”

Hope sighs deeply and loudly. “It’s all in your mind. It was just a figment of your imagination.”

Scott clicks his tongue, “Nu-uh, I’m not buying it.”

“You’re calling my bluff?”

“So you admit that it’s a bluff!”

“It’s just an expression, Scott.”

“An expression that fits the situation!”

“I hate you.”

“I love you, too.” Scott busts out laughing. When he finally finishes he realizes that there’s a dial tone and that Hope’s hung up on him. “Touche, Hope. Touche.”


	2. It's A... Date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank convinces Hope to give Scott a chance. Hope, of course, immediately regrets this decision.

“I guess I kinda screwed the pooch on that one,” Scott shrugs as he jumps up from the bed and sticks the emergency phone back in its hidey-hole. “Oh well, back to Rockband it is! Maybe I’ll try expert drums today,” he stops in his tracks, thinking, “Nah, better not! I’ll probably fail after the first few seconds of the song.”

He walks over and sits down at the fake drum set and reaches for his over-the-ear headphones. He cranks up the game real loud and starts scrolling through the list of music, trying to find one that won’t drive him insane.

__________________________________

After Hope hung up on Scott, she paced back and forth in her father’s study. Hank sat in his chair, typing something away on his computer when he finally couldn't concentrate anymore. “Hope, sweetheart, what’s going on?”

“It’s Scott,” she practically hissed.

“What did the idiot do this time?”

“He called me.”

“Yes, and?”

Hope spins around to her father. “There is no ‘yes, and?’. I just mean that he called me. Out of the blue. Just because he was lonely…” her voice trailed off at the end.

“To be fair, you two did kiss. And he probably thinks about you all of the time. I get the feeling that he’s like that. Permanently stuck in high school crush mode,” Hank says as he gets up from his desk and walks over to Hope. He places a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you just go over there? You aren’t seeing anyone, as far as I’m aware.”

“So I should ‘see’ the man who broke into your house and stole your life’s work from you?”

“We let him do that, Hope. You know we did. You planned it. You were even shocked when he froze the door and blasted it off.”

“I didn’t expect him to be half as cunning,” she furrowed her brows.  
“Besides, there’s not much more to do here today. It’s not like I need you to type for me. I’m more than capable of that,” he releases the hand from Hope’s shoulder and walks into the dining room.

Hope follows after him. “He said Cassie is with her mom for the week…”

“He loves that little girl so much. It reminds me of how much your mother and I loved you.”

Hope crosses her arms over her chest. “He does. He’s still a great father to her despite everything.”

A few moments of silence pass as Hank lingers near the kitchen doorway.

“Fine, I guess his dinner’s on me tonight.” She chuckles as she grabs her jacket from the coat rack at the front of the house. “Call me if you need anything, dad!”

“No thanks! I’m going to let you suffer through the entire night with Scott!”

“How cruel! It’s only so you can save yourself!” She yells back as she shuts the door behind her.

Hank shakes his head, a faint smile on his lips.

_____________________________________

Scott’s drumming away to “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains. “Ha, cause I’m stuck in a box and I need Hope to come and save me,” he cracks up and ends up missing a ton of notes. 

The music’s so loud that he doesn’t hear Hope knocking at the door, one arm overflowing with Chinese take-out boxes. “He’s a dead man walking if he doesn’t answer this door.” She carefully readjusts the Chinese food as she leans over to look into his front window. “Where is he? Did he fall asleep?” She checks her watch. “5:30? No way. His sleep schedule can’t be that much of a nightmare. I refuse to believe it.”

A few more moments pass and she decides to place the Chinese food on the stoop and call Scott’s emergency phone. “I can’t believe I’m getting stood up by Scott Lang, of all the men in the world,” she groans as she listens to the call tone.

Scott finishes the song and takes his earphones off while he wipes some sweat from his forehead. He looks around the house and wonders what to do next. “I wish I could have convinced Hope to come over! It would have been fun!” He sighs and then gets up from the drumset.

And then he hears his phone ringing. He runs over to this bedroom and removes the fake panel. “Hello?” He answers.

“Scott, so help me if you don’t open this front door I’m going to murder you in front of all your ant friends.”

Scott’s eyes got wide and he dropped the phone to the floor.

“Scott? Hello? SCOTT.”

Scott runs over to the front door and swings it wide open. “HOPE!” He goes to hug her but then realizes he’ll cross the ankle bracelet border. He makes a frowny face while Hope shoves past him to get inside. He looks down and sees the food boxes. He careful scoops them up and shuts the door behind him. “You came! You really came!” He does a little jump and Hope’s face turns red.

“And I’m already regretting it!”

Scott frowns again as he places the food on his kitchen table and shuffles through a drawer for some silverware. He pulls out two forks and attempts to hand one to Hope.

“No thanks, I can actually use chopsticks like civilized people.”

Scott gives her a small glare before he puts her fork back and opens up his box of food.

“And what were you doing that you couldn’t hear me pounding on the door? I swear your neighbors must think I’m crazy now.”

“Oh, I was playing Rockband. Trying to beat my high score. You know how it is.” 

“No, what’s Rockband?”

Scott’s fork fell to the table in slow motion and clattered. A few pieces of rice fell from the tip of the fork to the table top. His jaw flew open and he just stared at her in silence. “What movie did you bring?” He finally asks.

“Dead Poets Society,” she says, nervously as she pulls the case from her jacket pocket.

Scott tosses the DVD across the house and Hope cringes as she sees it fall to the floor in his hallway, clanking against the wood. “Forget it! You’re learning how to play Rockband tonight Hope van Dyne!”


	3. She Gives a Damn about her Bad Reputation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott teaches Hope how to play Rock Band and she excels at it like she does with everything.
> 
> Then they bargain for dates.

Chapter 3:

Hope follows Scott over to the fake drum set. He smiles as he steps out of the way. She walks around and looks down at the stool. Scott waltzs over and gives her a gentle push downwards. She sits on the stool as Scott hands her the headphones. “DO you wanna pick a song, or should I?:” 

Hope doesn’t respond.

“Yeah,” he looks from Hope to the setlist on the tv. “You seem like the Paramore type to me. I think you’ll like this song. Maybe you can get some of your pent-up anger out.” He picks the song and chooses the “easy” setting. “This’ll be really easy. You may even fall asleep from boredom. You’ll get plenty of time in between notes!” He shoves the drumsticks into her hand and then goes back to his Chinese food in the kitchen.

Hope stares at the drumsticks and then snaps her head up when she hears the song starting. She lets the first few notes pass by and then sees her bar start the flash red. Her pride takes over and she starts to play. “I’m not going to be beaten by a child’s game.”

“That’s the spirit!” Scott yells, with a mouthful of food, from the kitchen.

Hope passes the song with a 96 percent and she starts to stand up.

“No, no, no! You gotta do at least one more!” Scott calls. “One more and I promise you can eat your food!” He pouts at her.

She sits back down and scrolls through the list. She picks “Bad Reputation,” which makes Scott spit out a little food from laughing so hard. “Wow, that’s a dead ringer.”

She gives her all and hits every note. She even nails her drum solo. A few tiny beads of sweat drip down from her forehead. She pushes her hair out of her face and removes the headphones, setting them on the top of the tv. She struts over to Scott and grabs her box of Chinese food. 

“Nice one, van Dyne. I’m impressed!” Scott smiles widely at her.

Hope blushes, a little embarrassed over feeling challenged by a video game. “Maybe I could have been in a band… if I’d had a normal childhood.”

“I can picture it now. Little Hope in a bunch of leather, some purple hair, the lead singer--”

“Ha! I can’t sing to save my life.”

“If you think you’re bad you should hear me,” he emphasizes. “Maybe I could get a mic for the game and we could play together sometimes.

“Another Rock Band date?” She tilts her head at Scott. 

“Why not?” Scott smiles at her.

“HMMMMM.” Hope finishes chewing her food.

Scott trashes his empty box and then walks across the kitchen and grabs Hope’s DVD from off of the floor. “FIne, you drive a hard bargain. We can watch the movie next time, and Rock Band after?”

“Oh, now it’s TWO more dates.” She puts her box down on the table and turns her head to look at him standing behind her.

Scott sighs as he walks up behind her and places her DVD on the table. “Two movies and then Rock Band?:”

“Are you planning out my entire summer now?” She smirks.

“Only if you’ll let me,” he says as he kisses her cheek.

Hope’s face turns red and her eyes get wide. She jumps up from her chair and turns to look at him. Scott took a few steps back to give her some room. 

A few moments of silence passed.

Scott grabs her box and puts it in the fridge. “In case you want some lat---” But as he turns around he’s cut off by Hope who kisses him.

Now Scott’s the one who’s red and forgets to kiss back. Hope just laughs as she pulls away from his face. “So you can dish it but you can’t take it.”

“I-- It’s been a long time since I’ve had to take anything like that,” he chuckles nervously.  
“Aw,” she jabs Scott in the ribcage with her elbow.

“Hey, hey, stop teasing me,” he swats at her and she grabs the DVD from the table and jogs off into the living room. 

She sits down on the couch and kicks off her shoes.

“Go ahead and make yourself at home!” He calls after her, sarcastically.

Hope turns her body around. She’s got her knees on the couch and she’s hanging off of the back at it. “I think I will,” she smiles as he walks up to her. “On one condition,”

“And what’s that?”

“I want a nice, cozy blanket and--”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Scott holds up his arms, “You said one. O-n-e.”

“I know what I said,” she grinned evilly. “But I also want your promise that you won’t tell anyone I was here.”

“What? Is the lady worried about her reputation?” Scott places a hand on his forehead and pretends to faint.

Hope socks him one in the stomach, playfully, and rolls her eyes. “Because I’m only dating you in secret.”

“Worried someone else might swoop in and steal me?” Scott semi-glares at her.

Hope turns around and sinks back into the couch, holding one hand up, ready for the blanket. “I’m worried that somebody might make fun of me.”

Scott pulls a throw blanket off of the armchair across from the couch and drops it on her head. She huffs her breath and the blanket moves upwards from her face, and then falls back down. 

“Wait a minute, why do you need a blanket?”

“Surprise!” Hope throws the blanket off of her and it hits the floor. “I’m moving in until you’re off of house arrest!”


End file.
